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Posted on 10/30/2023 2:01:54 PM PDT by JonPreston
In some branches of the military, the shortage of personnel has become even more dire than the deficit in arms and ammunition. One of Zelensky’s close aides tells me that even if the U.S. and its allies come through with all the weapons they have pledged, “we don’t have the men to use them.”
Since the start of the invasion, Ukraine has refused to release official counts of dead and wounded. But according to U.S. and European estimates, the toll has long surpassed 100,000 on each side of the war. It has eroded the ranks of Ukraine’s armed forces so badly that draft offices have been forced to call up ever older personnel, raising the average age of a soldier in Ukraine to around 43 years.
Now recruitment is way down. As conscription efforts have intensified around the country, stories are spreading on social media of draft officers pulling men off trains and buses and sending them to the front. Those with means sometimes bribe their way out of service, often by paying for a medical exemption. Such episodes of corruption within the recruitment system became so widespread by the end of the summer that on Aug. 11 Zelensky fired the heads of the draft offices in every region of the country.
The decision was intended to signal his commitment to fighting graft. But the move backfired, according to the senior military officer, as recruitment nearly ground to a halt without leadership. The fired officials also proved difficult to replace, in part because the reputation of the draft offices had been tainted. “Who wants that job?” the officer asks. “It’s like putting a sign on your back that says: corrupt.”
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Zelensky is delusional - Time
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky feels “betrayed” by his Western backers, who have denied him the support and attention he has grown used to, his aides told Time magazine.
According to the report, the president’s circle now see him as… pic.twitter.com/AXr8DQ7490— Make Peace Now; alternative news (@AlternatNews) October 30, 2023
Setting suns before they fall
Echo to you, that's all, that's all
But you'll see lonely sunsets after all
It's over, it's over, it's over
It's over
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